Kids Cube/7_Science.iso/memmstr/tut16.txt

Text File | 1989-07-08 | 3KB | 54 lines

               ^Tutorial 16 - Remembering Jokes and Stories\

You have already learned the systems which will enable you to remember %any\
joke or story.  The >Key Thought\ idea, the >Link System\, and the >Peg
System\ can all help you to remember Jokes and Stories.

Have you ever wondered how professional comedians can tell jokes for an hour
or more, and repeat the same act night after night, telling the same jokes
in the same order ? Well, many professional comedians >Link\ a >Key Thought\
of one joke to the >Key Thought\ of the next, and so on.  The comedian knows
each of the jokes - he simply needs reminders of the jokes and their
sequence.

So, a Link of >Irishman\ to >hamster\ to >doctor\ to >figs\ would be
sufficient to remind a comedian to first tell the joke about the Irishman,
then tell the one about the hamster, then the one about the doctor, and so
on.

If you would like to remember a number of jokes, simply form a Link of Key
Thoughts which will remind you of the jokes. To start your Link, you can
picture any simple joke or gag, and associate that to a mental image of
yourself dressed as a circus clown, telling jokes.#

Suppose you pick a very old gag such as 'What's black and white and red all
over..... a newspaper'. The >Key Thought\ from this joke is $newspaper\, so
you would associate $newspaper\ to that picture of yourself telling jokes
as a clown.

When you hear or read a joke that you would like to remember, you simply
decide on a Key Thought to remind you of the joke, and associate it to the
last item in your mental <'Joke Chain'\. So the second joke you want to
remember would be associated to $newspaper\, the third joke to the second,
and so on.

Selecting a single >Key Thought\ or >Key Word\ to remind you of a joke is
easier than you might think.  After all, when you hear people talking about
jokes, they usually say things like 'Tell us the one about the elephant', or
'Did you hear the one about the nun'.  Each joke is summarised by one, >Key\
word.  Also, concentrating on the joke to come up with a >Key Thought\ will
make you concentrate on that joke, and be Initially Aware of it.#

When you are forming your 'Joke Chain', use the principles you have already
learned to make your visual associations strong ones. Be sure that your
mental pictures are %ludicrous\ and %humorous\. See them <clearly\ in your
mind's eye for just a fraction of a second, and you will not forget them.

To recall the jokes you have memorised, you simply run through your Link
mentally, and stop at the Key Thought for any joke that you wish to tell
or recall.

For short gags, you can extend the Link idea by associating the punchline to
your >Key Thought\ for the joke. Take the following short joke :

  ^Two eggs were in a saucepan. The first egg sai